The Boy Who Lived Through Retribution
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: Let's forget about Second Impact. Let's forget the Angels, Evas, and NERV. They don't exist for a moment. They don't exist at all. It's a different world, a different place, one full of a different type of balance, where you have, in one hand, the successes and failures that come with science, and in the other the mysteries, wonders and possibilities of sorcery. And a boy involved.
1. The Beginning

Creation began on 08-26-13

Creation ended on 01-10-14

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The Boy Who Lived Through Retribution

A/N: The power of imagination, the freedom of creativity, and the thrill of escaping what was, what is, to going to what might be, what can be…and, oftentimes, what should be.

It was a dark and misty night, empty of all the mysterious oddities of the unknown. And from with the mist surrounding a small neighborhood, a man walked out onto the sidewalk, out of a series of large trees. He was dressed in brownish-gray robes, with short, graying hair, wrinkled skin on his face and hands, and looked like he had been devastated by a tragedy not too long ago. He stood in front of some street lights that illuminated his presence, and he took out a small device from within his robes. It looked like a small, ordinary lighter used for cigarettes, but slightly larger and looking like it was made of gold and silver. He held it up in front of him…and suddenly, the lights around him dimmed down so that he wasn't seen completely.

"Meow," he heard the mewing of a cat, and turned toward a small house stoop, where he saw a white cat with a puff of yellowish fur on its head. "Meow."

"I didn't expect to see you here…Dr. Akagi," the man said to the cat, and it seemed as though the cat understood everything the man had said to it.

The cat then got up from off the stoop and walked toward the man. Its shadow, cast on the wall of a small garage, started to change shape; it went from looking like a cat to walking upright like a person, and assuming other traits that it didn't possess before. In less than four seconds, the cat had disappeared, replaced by a woman with faux-blondish hair, wearing white and blue robes and had a mole under her eye.

"Good evening, Professor Fuyutsuki," the woman, Dr. Akagi, addressed the elder, sounding clinical, making it hard to understand her emotions. "People have been speaking. Are the rumors I hear of true?"

"They are," Fuyutsuki responded, as they both walked down the street, concealed by the dimmed lights. "Was there ever any doubt that they were?"

"All of them?" She restated.

"All of them," he confirmed. "The good…and the bad."

"And what of the boy?"

"Katsuragi is bringing him, even as we speak."

"You'd really trust my colleague with something as important as bringing him here?"

"With everything that's happened…and everything that's yet to happen, I'd trust Katsuragi with my life, if I had to."

A moment later, they both looked up to the sight of a large, blue Renault A310 that was soaring from the night sky. It landed right in front of them and its engine rested in humming. The right door opened up and a woman stepped out, with long, purplish hair and wearing black and red robes.

"Good evening, Professor Fuyutsuki, Ritsuko," the woman greeted them, closing the driver's door and walking to the other side of the car.

"So, your father finally gave in and gave you his car?" Fuyutsuki asked her.

"Yeah," she answered.

"I trust that he wasn't much trouble, Misato?" Ritsuko asked.

"Oh, he was no trouble. Little angel fell to sleep right as we flew over Osaka. Do try not to wake him, though." She expressed, opening the passenger door and pulled out a baby car seat.

She then handed it over to Fuyutsuki, who then walked over toward a house that stood out more so than the others because it was blue and purple; all the other houses were either white or green.

"Professor Fuyutsuki, do you think it wise to leave him here?" Ritsuko asked him, now showing concern in her voice. "I know we tried to evaluate his aunt and uncle, and concluded that they were ill-suited and not the type of people I would entrust anyone to. I was watching them for three days and they were the worst sort of people imaginable. But these two… I heard that his wife is in failing health and that he himself is troubled with her lack of medication because the doctors have her on a waiting list a mile long. They really are…"

"The only family she'd really leave him with if anything happened to her early on," Fuyutsuki expressed, stopping in front of the small stoop.

"He'll be famous for what he did," Misato stated. "There won't be a soul in our world that'll grow up not knowing his name."

"I know," Fuyutsuki responded, setting the car seat on the steps, "but he'll be better off, growing up away from all that…until he comes of age."

He then placed a letter underneath the seat and ringed the doorbell.

Misato shed a few tears of sadness; she hated it when people parted ways.

"Now, now, Katsuragi," Fuyutsuki went, "it's not really good-bye. We'll see him again."

By the time the door opened, the three had vanished, and there stood an elderly woman dressed in purple pajamas, her face wrinkled and her hair black and white, wrapped in a ponytail. She looked down on her front steps and gasped at the baby boy in the car seat.

"Oh, God," she sighed, and picked up the car seat and shut the door.

"Is something wrong, sweetheart?" A man, just as old and withered as his wife, asked, and then stood silent at the sight of baby in the car seat she held in her hands. "Is that who I think it is?"

"It is," she answered him. "When I heard what happened to her, I never thought I'd see them again. But then, I found him on our doorstep."

They went into the kitchen and sat the car seat down their oak table, where the elderly woman picked up the baby and noticed a strange marking on his left hand. It was shaped like crescent moon, and it seemed to correspond with a sun-shaped marking on his right hand. In the woman's mind, something awful had happened to him before he was brought to her, and he probably didn't see a doctor for any other injuries he might've had. Thankfully, though, she found the letter underneath his car seat and began looking at it thoroughly.

"Oh," she covered her mouth.

"What is it?" Her husband asked, worried.

It would be a short while before she would confide in him the horror of what happened earlier that night, just as it would be a while before he could accept the reality of his present, just as it would be a long night that the two got to get reacquainted with Shinji Ikari, their only grandson who had survived a brush with the hands of cruelty that brought death with them toward his mother.

-x-

It had been nearly eleven years since that night, and not a passing night went by where he couldn't recall what else transpired the night he was told his mother had passed away. In his dreams, his nightmares, all he could make out was a flash of red, a giant hand, and a pair of eyes that were the darkest he'd ever seen before. Eleven years…and he wished he could remember what happened that night every time.

"Shinji!" He heard his grandmother calling him outside his door. "Are you awake yet?"

"Yes, Grandmother," he answered back, getting out of bed and setting on his glasses; it would be a few more days until the eye medicine he'd taken had cleared up his nearsightedness after he had stumbled onto poison oak last month.

In the ten years that came and went, he got to know his grandparents really well. At least, that's what he came to believe; his grandfather was always in his medical journals when he wanted to reaffirm something he might've overlooked, and his grandmother…was something of a mystery to him when she wasn't in his sight. She had been in failing health when he was old enough to remember her clearly, and in the following years, she seemed to get better, as if by magic.

"Well, breakfast will be ready shortly, so get ready," she told him.

Today was a big day for him. His class was going to the zoo to study up on the animals they were assigned to study, and his were tigers. He changed out of his pajamas and into his school clothes and left out of his room toward the bathroom to brush his teeth.

_My birthday's in three weeks,_ he thought, examining his face in the mirror, _and I still don't know what I want that's just a want._

After he left out the bathroom and walked down the hallway toward the stairs, he stopped in front of a large, framed photograph of his mother and her elder sister, his aunt, whom he had very little contact with, something he was okay with; he was seven years old when he met his maternal aunt…and she hated him instantly. His mother, Yui, seemed like the perfect model for bright, young women with a bright future, even when burdened with the stigma of being single mothers. That's all he really knew about her from his grandparents when he wanted to know about her…and something his aunt had complained about more than once after he met her at least eight more times. He bowed his head to his mother's image and then proceeded toward the kitchen.

"Good morning, Shinji," his grandfather greeted him as he sat down at the table.

"Good morning, Grandfather," he greeted back.

"Are you looking forward to your field-trip today?"

"Yeah, though I'm not looking forward to my assignment. I can handle snakes, bears and crocodiles, but big cats are something else."

"Right, like it might have nothing to do with our neighbor's Great Dane-sized Siamese cat?"

Shinji became silent, reminded of last year's fright when he met their neighbor's pet Siamese. It wasn't something easy for him to forget because the cat, in his mind, was massive and could put a dog to shame with its size.

"Now, now, Tama," went his wife, as she placed their breakfast on the table, "it was unexpected. Besides, Mai apologized for her cat's advance on Shinji. There was no harm done. Though, I must admit I was surprised that she had such a big cat, I thought it was a tiger."

They then ate their breakfast until it was time for Shinji to head off to school for his field-trip. He took his bike and rode off; while his grandmother was insistent that he just take the bus, his grandfather was adamant that Shinji be able to ride a bike and be more independent. Shinji had no problem with the bike-riding part, but being more independent was something that wouldn't happen until he was much older and attending college; he was still attending middle school. He still had his head in the books, making so-so grades, keeping out of trouble with other kids his age…and barely had any friends that he had anything in common with. There were at least two of them, but all he had in common with them was their interest in comic books and Twentieth Century films.

"_Shinji, I'm still waiting on you to tell me what you want for your birthday!"_ His grandmother had told him before he rode away. _"You be sure to tell me when you get back from the zoo!"_

Sometimes, he wondered whether he should be concerned for her health rather than her be concerned about him. She might've been in good health after a few years, but he worried because of her advanced age; her most recent birthday indicated that she was at least, and it bothered him a little, one-hundred-twenty-two years old. In his mind, that was unusual, even supernatural. But all his grandmother would say is that if he stayed fit, exercised regularly, ate his food groups and he could live to be over one-hundred years old, too. He always wanted to believe that she was lying, but he looked into people living over one-hundred years and found they were quite the way his grandmother had said they could be if they lived right.

-x-

The zoo seemed much bigger the last time Shinji went, which had been a year ago, and the animal habitats were larger, too. His assignment wasn't getting much progress with the tigers, as they were being lazy, and the people were poking their noses at the thick glass that kept them from getting too close for comfort. The bad comfort. When the families with noisy kids left, Shinji looked at a large, female tiger and put down his writing pad.

"I guess it's normal for you to be lazy," he told the tigress, "laying there, day after day, watching people give you weird looks or to press their faces on the glass."

Then, the tigress looked up at him, which surprised him. He swayed his head to the left, and the big cat mirrored his movements.

"Can…can you hear me?" He asked her, and, to his shock, she nodded her head up and down. "Gomen nasai, but… It's just… I've never spoken with a big cat before. I… Do you… I mean, do you talk to people every now and then?"

The tigress nodded in the negative.

"Say, you're a tiger from Siberia, aren't you? There aren't many tigers native to Japan that you can find in the wild. Was it nice there? Do you miss your family?"

The tigress turn her head to his left side of the habitat where he saw a tag or plaque of sorts that held information on the tigers. It turned out that most of them had been raised in the zoo all their lives.

"Oh," he sighed, with some sadness. "So you've never been to Siberia. You must've had relatives that did long ago, though."

Suddenly…Shinji was knocked away from the display of the tiger's habitat…by a larger boy wearing the same uniform as he did.

"Say, Shinji, I just finished my assignment on the bears," he told Shinji. "It looks like you haven't gotten anywhere on your assignment. Falling behind, as usual of you."

Shinji got up, gave him an angry look, but couldn't do anything beyond being upset that his class bully/tormentor shoved him to the ground. Whenever this guy had nobody else to torture, he would always go after Shinji, and just three months ago, he gave him a black eye just because he lived with his grandparents. If he could humiliate the guy just once, he'd be content for the rest of the school year, but he was physically incapable of hurting the guy that was able to crush him. But the next thing he saw, he wasn't sure if it was real or imaginary.

The bully, as if by an unseen force, fell through the glass and into the space provided for the tigress Shinji was speaking to, falling into the artificial pond used as a source of drinking water for the big cat. He was soaked to the bone, and then the tigress, as if excited, got up and walked past him and onto the concrete floor in front of Shinji.

"Thank you," she told him.

"Sure thing," he responded, and then the tigress walked away.

"Tiger!" Someone screamed, and people were running away screaming, pulling their kids to safety, or just wailing their arms around.

"Hey, Shinji!" The bully shouted, now standing out of the pond, but bashing against the glass, which kept him from getting out. "Get me outta here!"

"Ah-ha-ha!" Shinji laughed at him. "Don't go nowhere. I'll go get the teacher."

"Hey, wait a minute!"

But Shinji had already run off. The sight of his tormentor being in the habitat was priceless. Shinji wasn't going to forget that any time soon. From his point of view, he got just what he deserved.

-x-

The rest of the field-trip had been cut short, and a total of seven students, including Shinji, hadn't been able to fulfill their animal assignments. The student that fell into the tigers' habitat had to go to the hospital on account of getting a chill and might've gotten nipped by the baby tigers that were found nearby when the trainers found him. As the class was allowed to leave school early that day, when Shinji got home, his grandparents were there, worried about him.

"Shinji, what happened today?" His grandfather asked him.

"A boy fell into the tigers' habitat," he explained, being simple.

"But how did he fall in?" His grandmother asked. "You can be honest with us, Shinji."

"Okay. I was shoved to the ground by the class bully, I got up, and he fell into the habitat. The glass that kept the tigers from getting out was there for a moment, but in the next, it wasn't there, anymore. It was… I don't know, it was like magic." He explained, being as thorough as possible.

"What?!" Tama gasped. "But that's…that's ridiculous, Shinji. Everybody knows that magic doesn't exist anywhere, except for…"

"Eh-hmm!" His wife made her voice heard with her grunt, something that Shinji found odd right now; normally, whenever she had an opinion about something her husband felt was false or make-believe, she would use subtle forms of physical abuse on him or just give him an expression that meant what he believed was better left unexpressed.

"Then again, the movies aren't always true," he gave in.

Somehow, Shinji felt like his grandmother had something more say…and something to hide. Maybe it even had something to do with his solar and lunar markings on his hands; ever since he could remember, his markings never faded away as he got older or healed up, but grew as his hands did. He often wondered why this was so, and wondered, other times, why they seemed like cuts, but looked more like tattoos; the sun-shaped marking had turned orange while the crescent moon turned blue.

"I bet your classmates got a good laugh at the boy becoming a part of the animal display," she said to him, chuckling a bit.

"I know I sure did," he told her, unable to refrain from giggling a bit at his bully's humiliation. "If anything, I felt he deserved to be laughed at."

-x-

The next day, with Shinji still unsure of what he wanted for his upcoming birthday that was a want and not a need, checked the morning mail and found a pile of letters and a magazine that was addressed to his grandfather about health issues. The letters themselves were mostly bills, a letter from his aunt, and a letter addressed to him.

"Huh?" He gawked, looking at the letter that was addressed to him; it wasn't like the other letters, as it felt like it was made of parchment paper made hundreds of years back, with a stamping seal on the back of the envelope that kept it sealed, and displayed within the seal was a coat of arms represented by the four animals of Asian mythology.

In clockwise rotation, but in the shape of a square, the animals started off with the snake and tortoise combo of the north on the upper left, the dragon of the east on the upper right, followed by the phoenix underneath it, and finished by the tiger under the snake and tortoise. It was confusing to Shinji, particularly because he hardly ever got any mail; he didn't have many people to talk to outside his relationship with is grandparents, his not-so-subtle relationship with his aunt, or his two friends, who recently had been transferred out of school and hadn't kept in contact with him a whole month after they left. He needed to ask his grandparents if there was somebody he didn't know that would bother to send him a letter like this, and brought it into the kitchen, where he set it down on the kitchen counter and then sat at the table.

Tama saw the mail and looked at the letters pertaining to the bills while his wife setup breakfast.

"Hmm, I thought this bill for the plumbing under the house had been paid for," he said, just as his wife saw the letter addressed to Shinji.

"Oh, dear," she went, examining the letter. "I wasn't expecting this until much later."

"Is something wrong, Grandmother?" Shinji asked her, and she put up a small smile.

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with until you're fourteen, Shinji," she told him.

"You're sure?"

"Yes." She then put the letter down and advised him not to pay it any mind until he turned fourteen.

-x-

But try as he might, Shinji couldn't stop from wondering what was in that letter he was addressed. All he knew was that he shouldn't concern himself with it until he turned fourteen, but that's what made him worry. What if they were going to send him away for not making good grades? Or he was becoming a burden on them because of how much it cost just to keep him around? He could go crazy not knowing, and he just wanted to know what was in that letter that he wasn't supposed to know about his birthday came, which was in another three days now.

He had yet to tell his grandmother what he wanted, but decided on something not as expensive, but oftentimes viewed as a want: An iPod, that way he'd have all his music available to him without having to rotate his CDs all the time. As he got older, he found out that some of the women in his family had a taste for music the same way people had a taste for food. He had an iPhone, but that was just for contacting people; he never used it for anything other than keeping numbers and calender reminders and Internet access for information.

"…All I'm saying is that he's getting suspicious of the letter," he heard his grandfather outside his room. "Why not just let him see the letter now? He's bound to find out sooner or later."

"He doesn't need to know until after he turns fourteen," he heard his grandmother respond. "Honestly, as much as I hope for the letter to be what I think it is, I'd rather find out on his birthday."

"You mean, you haven't looked at it yourself?"

"I can't open that sort of letter. It's addressed to Shinji, so he's the only one that can open it. And even if he doesn't, letters like that have a way of getting themselves heard."

"Please, tell me it won't be the three of us this year for his birthday like it nearly was last year."

"It might be. You remember what happened last year when his aunt came around. Oh, I can't forget."

Shinji couldn't forget, either. Last year on his thirteenth birthday, his aunt had spoken negative things about him that nearly made him want to cut his party short; it was like she had some sort of grudge against his mother that she took out on him. The strangest part of it all was that he never did anything to her to deserve such contempt from her, at least he had no recollection of ever doing anything to her. He wouldn't even so much as raise his fists at her.

_I guess I should ask for an iPod for music,_ he considered, and got up from his Acer computer, a gift he got last Christmas.

-x-

GASP! Shinji awoke from another nightmare for the umpteenth time; for some reason, since before he could remember anything, he'd been having the same nightmare, over and over again for years. In it, there was a hooded figure chasing him and another person up the stairs into a room. The person with him was a woman, dressed up like one, and she had closed the door to keep the hooded person out, but then the door blew open. A large wave of orange light shined through, and all Shinji could hear was the woman screaming before he was in front of the hooded figure, who raised a right arm up to grab him. Then, before anything else could happen, he woke up with sweat on his forehead.

He sighed and got out of bed, went down the stairs and entered the kitchen.

"Grandmother?" He asked, seeing her at the table drinking out of a cup. "What are you doing up at this hour of the night?"

"The same could be asked of you," she counter-questioned. "What are you doing up?"

"I…I had another nightmare," he confessed.

"Was it the same one you always have?"

"Yeah."

She then gestured for him to sit down while she got up and rummaged through the refrigerator for another beverage. As he sat down, she grabbed a bottle of caffeine-free soda.

"To answer your question, I was taking my medicated beverage," she told him.

Shinji looked at her cup and saw her beverage was red in color texture, but its aroma was rather sweet.

"It's not wine or some other beverage I won't let you drink until you're older, just so that you know," she informed him as she sat back down. "I keep the restricted beverages elsewhere."

"Eh-heh," he chuckled, and accepted the soda from her. "I wouldn't dare drink anything I knew I couldn't drink."

"So, how bad was it this time?"

"It was the same as the previous ones I had: I see a hooded figure coming after me, there's this woman whose face I can't see, and I hear her screaming before the hooded figure raises an arm to grab me before I wake up. It doesn't make any sense."

She sipped on her drink and then said, "It must be something that, subconsciously, you can't let go of yet. Maybe it relates to your early childhood."

"Before I started living here?"

"Yeah, but there might've been something about what happened that was too much for you to take in, so you don't remember what else occurred. It's known to happen to people too young to recall everything that happens to them."

"So…I might've saw what happened to my mother when I was little…but I simply can't bring myself to recall what caused her death?"

"It's a possibility, Shinji. But try not to be down about it. Don't dwell so much on the past. Just live in the here and now."

"I'll drink to that," he accepted, and drank the soda again while she did her beverage.

-x-

Shinji wasn't really looking forward to his birthday now, even after deciding on wanting an iPod (since his iPhone was strictly for contact purposes, only). It wasn't because of the lack of party guests or additional familiar ties that were less than positive, but because no matter how old he got, he felt deprived of much-needed contact from his friends. He looked at his clock and read the time being a minute to midnight to signify the arrival of the Sixth of June. Less than a minute until he turned fourteen years old.

Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…

Beep-beep-beep! His clock quietly went off, signifying his birthday had arrived.

"Make a wish, Shinji Ikari," he told himself.

DING-DONG! The house doorbell went off. DING-DONG!

Down the hall from his room, Shinji's grandparents came out of their room and walked down the stairs, armed with an aluminum bat and baton; they didn't know anybody that made themselves known around midnight on any day of the year.

"Who's there?" Tama demanded.

Shinji hid behind the corner atop the stairs, just in case he saw somebody that didn't belong and he had ample time to use his iPhone to call the police.

Suddenly, the door unlocked itself and opened up, letting in a powerful gust of wind that pushed the elderly couple two feet backwards as someone came inside. It was a woman with purple hair, dressed in black and red robes. She stood in front of them, quite a tall woman that towered over the elders.

"Gomen for my uninvited arrival," she told them, smiling, and closed the door.

Tama and his wife looked at each other and then back at the woman.

"Ma'am, might I ask you to explain your presence and your motivation for being here, please? I don't want to have to call the police and disturb them for odd reasons," Tama told the woman.

"I'm not here to harm you, if that's what you're wondering," she explained herself a little. "I just needed to know if he read his letter yet."

"He? You mean Shinji?" Tama's wife asked her. "Is that why you're here? While I find that to be a waste of a trip for you, he'll read his letter when I give it to him."

"He might as well read it now…as he's already up and about," the purple head expressed, pointing up the stairs, right at Shinji, who was looking at them. "I haven't seen him since he was a wee lad. He turned out a bit more than I had expected. Though I'm surprised he gained more meat on his bones."

"I'm sorry, but…just who are you?" Shinji asked her, confused.

"Katsuragi, Misato," she introduced herself, "the Keeper of the Keys and Training Grounds Witch of the United Academy. Of course, you'll have known all about the United Academy."

"I'm sorry, but…I don't know anything about that, ma'am."

"You don't? You mean, your grandmother hasn't told you once where your mother learned it all?"

Shinji looked at his grandmother and then back at Misato before saying, "My mother? Learned what there, exactly?"

"Oh, Kami. Shinji, you should really hear it from her." Misato told him.

Shinji looked back at his grandmother, who seemed like a weight had been placed on her.

"Grandmother, what is she talking about?" He asked her.

Miko sighed and sat down in a nearby chair and gestured for Shinji to sit with her, which he did.

"I didn't want to pressure you, or worry or get your hopes up by saying what wouldn't make any sense until something like this might've happened," she started. "You see, Shinji…you're a wizard."

"I, uh…a what, Grandmother?" He asked her, unsure of what he heard from her.

"You're a wizard. You…you can manipulate magical energy… That is, once you've learned how to."

"I… Maybe it's a falsehood belief," Shinji expressed. "I mean, I… Surely, I can't be a…a wizard. I mean… I'm just…me. Just me."

"Well, at least tell us, Shinji," Miko needed to know this for herself, just for good measure, "it's probably only a coincidence, but…did you ever feel like you were able to make things happen? Things that only seemed to happen whenever you were around. Maybe…when you got angry or had a frightful moment, perhaps?"

Shinji thought about it for a moment…and recalled a few times in his past where things did seem to happen, with the most recent one being when his school bully fell into the tigers' habitat.

"Yeah," he realized, "things did happen that I couldn't explain."

Miko then went over to a small chest on the mantlepiece over the chimney and took out the letter addressed to her grandson and gave it to him.

"Since it's after midnight, it is your birthday," she told him and sat back down.

He opened the envelop and pulled out the letter, written on smaller parchment paper instead of regular writing or printing paper.

"_'Dear, Mr. Ikari. We are pleased to inform you…that you've been accepted to the United Academy for Magical and Technological Learning'_?" He read.

"Whoa," went Tama. "That's how Yui reacted when she got her letter."

"I don't think I can ever understand why you married him, Mrs. Ikari," Misato told Miko.

"Some relationships are better left unspoken about," Miko expressed, just as Shinji continued to read his letter.

"Uh, what's this part where I need to send an owl to confirm I got my letter?" He asked them.

"Messengers, Shinji," Miko explained.

-x-

When the sun rose from beyond the horizon, Shinji, who had gone back to sleep after reading the rest of his letter and, literally, sending an owl of confirmation to ensure that he had gotten his letter, awoke and went back downstairs.

"…So he's just like her, then?" He heard a female voice that seemed like it had some degree of malice in it, which he recognized as his aunt's voice. "I don't think this would've happened if he were left on my doorstep. But you knew. You knew this could happen, and you kept quiet about it."

"That's not true, Nabiki," he heard his grandfather say to her. "We didn't really know about this until earlier this morning. There's no need to be angry about any of this."

"Oh, I have every right to be angry about this. I always knew Yui was something else. You two have always favored her over me."

"Nabiki, you know that's not true," Miko told her.

"Yes, it is. Out of both your daughters, I'm the one that gets the short end of the stick…just because I don't have any magic. And then, when I find out that Shinji is living with you, I find out that Yui went and got herself killed. Probably by some other magical thing she decided to mess with."

"Nabiki, you know it's not right to call people something they're not," Tama told her. "And we don't know what really happened that day Yui died. Why do you hate Shinji so much? He's never done anything to you or his cousins, so why treat him like he's…difficult to be around?"

"Because he's just his mother: Unnatural."

"Shinji's as normal as you or myself, Nabiki," Miko told her, defending Shinji. "To say he's not like other boys is look down upon him like he's some sort of demon, which is unfair. Yes, Yui was a single mother, but she didn't do anything wrong. If anything, the wrong she might've done was just being far from home, but that's understandable."

"Hey, Shinji," he turned around and saw Misato behind him.

"Good morning, Ms. Katsuragi," he greeted her. "Uh, do you know when my aunt arrived?"

"Only ten minutes ago. Is she always so…"

"Resentful of me? Oh, yeah. I try to ignore all of that, though, pretend it doesn't bother me."

"But that's wrong. You don't look like you could hurt anybody."

"Could you tell me something about the academy? Is it mainly magical or technological?"

"Actually, it's neither. Both sides are balanced, even blurred. Science and sorcery are always being advanced by the mages, so much so that they needed to be divided by their talents: Tech-Mage for one that practices science more than magic, and Para-Mage for one that practices magic more than science. I'm still trying to decide which class I belong to; neutrality isn't so big there when it comes to what you decide you want to do more than the other."

"Para-Mage? As in…paranormal?"

"Yeah."

Before Shinji could ask anything more about the academy, Nabiki stepped out of the kitchen and into the hall, in front of the two. She stopped and looked at her nephew, who seemed to disregard her dislike of him.

"Good morning, Aunt Nabiki," he calmly greeted her, showing that he kept whatever feelings of her dislike of him at bay. "Will you be staying?"

"Um, no, sorry," she told him. "I just came by to drop off your gift. I must be going now. Happy Birthday, Shinji."

She then left out the house.

"Nice aunt," Misato expressed.

"When she wants to be," he added, and then went into the kitchen. "I saw Nabiki on her way out."

"I guess you…probably heard everything she said," went Tama to him, "didn't you?"

"Not everything was heard. I don't really want to talk about it."

Miko, who was setting four plates full of breakfast on the table, uttered, "Don't let your negative feelings build up too much. It's bad for your heart."

Shinji nodded as he sat down, and then he noticed that there were four plates at the table.

"Four?" He asked.

"We asked Ms. Katsuragi to join us for breakfast," Tama explained.

"Oh. Okay."

When Misato sat at the table with them, they began to eat.

"Oh, Shinji, we'll be heading out to where you need to get your school supplies for the academy," Miko informed her grandson.

"Okay," he responded. "But, uh…aren't we a bit near the Hayflick Limit?"

"Oh, now that it's confirmed you have magical potential, you have a lot to learn about the two sides of the world, particularly the magical one," Tama told him. "There isn't much of a limit in finances when they're split between regular and magical."

Shinji appeared to be taking this so well; it was probably a lot to take in, so he processed it all slowly, bits by bits. Sometimes, Miko had to wonder if keeping such a fact about his mother hidden from him for all these years was even right. Truth be told, she did want to tell him, but didn't want to get his hopes up that he had inherited his mother's magical energies. And then, there was the additional truth that she herself was a witch, not a normal person that was over one-hundred years old.

-x-

"…It doesn't seem like the list of supplies have changed much over the decades, Miko," went Tama to his wife, as he looked at Shinji's letter that showed the list of things he needed before he went to the academy. "Hmm? What is this addition? _'All students must be required to bring seven sets of plain, work robes (black with silver fastenings, or silver with black fastenings)'_? That's four sets extra, giving you one for each day of the week."

They were all in Misato's car on the way downtown to some locale that Shinji hadn't seen before.

"Students are allowed to bring, if they so desire, either any one of the three standard animals, an owl, cat or dog, or some other animal with ties to science and sorcery," Shinji looked over his letter some more. "Can we really find all of this in this part of Nagasaki?"

"Sure," answered Misato, "so long as you know where to look."

The sight of Nagasaki's rural half was so peaceful to Shinji and Tama; ever since the historical recordings of the second World War, time seemed to stand still after the American's inability to devastate Japan with powerful bombs, so while the war ended with Allied Forces winning, Japan was able to rebuild their lands that were ravaged by war and death. Though, honestly, Shinji was unable to comprehend why people that go to war wanted to start war in order to prove their would-be superiority, which was nonexistent. He figured that while he was away at the academy for his first year out of five years that he would be attending would help him get a better understanding of people when it came to war and domination; all he really knew was that he would rather lead a simple life without the need for violence in it.

"We're here," Miko went, and the car stopped beside what looked like a tavern. "Heh-heh! _The Renewed Boiler_. Never thought I'd come here again."

"It's the only place I know where to get a good can Yebisu," said Misato, who confessed to being a lover of the alcoholic beverage. "They lace theirs with caramel, honey and ginger."

"Sounds like that coffee beer I once tried," Tama expressed.

They got out of the car and walked into the tavern, seeing at least two dozen people around the place, chatting, drinking, etc.

"Hey, Katsuragi!" A young man addressed Misato, pouring another round for a woman at the bar counter. "Here for your usual, as usual?"

To Shinji, the guy, the bartender, looked like he was in his early to mid-twenties, probably an apprentice to an older guy.

"Not today, Hyuga," Misato responded, "I'm on official UA business. Just here to help young Shinji to get his school supplies."

"Bless my inventory," went an elderly woman, looking at the quartet. "It's Shinji Ikari."

The other patrons silenced and looked at the boy, who seemed nervous with all the attention being put on him.

"Uh, hello," he greeted them.

"Hello!" They greeted back kindly.

"Whoa, Miko, I never thought you'd bring him here," a guy said to Miko, shaking her left hand. "It's great to finally see him in person."

"Heh… Shinji…Ikari," went a middle-aged woman with brownish-red hair, dressed in brown robes. "I never expected to make your acquaintance here. Or today, of all days."

"You're Naoko Akagi, aren't you?" Tama asked her.

"I am," she answered.

"She still teaches at the United Academy," Misato explained her profession.

"Hello, Ms. Akagi," Shinji addressed her. "Say, what do you teach at the academy?"

"I teach…Defense Against Technological Arts, helping students protect themselves against various forms of science that can be misused for wrongful purposes." Naoko explained the rest of her profession. "I hope to see you participate."

"O…okay," he responded, and then they all left to the back of the tavern. _That was creepy._

They stepped inside a hall that led to two different bathrooms and had what looked like an unfinished piece of the wall on the right side.

"Impressive, huh, Shinji?" Misato asked him. "You're actually famous."

"I am? So, all those people back in there… How do they know who I am? I haven't done anything of any significance." He said to her.

"I'm not really sure if any or all of us are the ones to even tell you, Shinji," Miko told him. "Do you want to do the honors, Ms. Katsuragi, or should I do it?"

"You're welcome to show him the way in," she told the elder.

Miko then reached into blue coat and pulled out a small stick, about the size of a small feather duster, and made out of wood. She tapped on the edges on the unfinished wall, counterclockwise, twice. Seconds later, the wall's unfinished portion appeared to unmake itself in front of them, surprising Shinji, who couldn't believe what he was seeing. Miko placed a comforting hand on his left shoulder, assuring him that it was real.

Within the wall, there was a path being revealed, with several building on the sides.

"Whoa," Shinji gasped quietly.

"Shinji," went Miko, "welcome to the Getemono Alley."

Cobbled together seemed accurate to Shinji, as he saw many buildings and people out and about on the narrow, town-like environment. There were buildings that showed ordinary things, like cooking tools or cleaning tools, while other buildings had objects Shinji hadn't seen before, like large cauldrons that looked like they were made of steel and wood, gold and silver, cages and other things. It probably blended together the many factions of science and sorcery, as well.

"Do they sell many things here?" Shinji asked.

"Just about," his grandmother answered. "They have shops where they sell quills and ink, pens and pencils. Powders and potions for wizardry and ailments."

They walked past a few shops that seemed to have animals of many varieties in cages or on perches. Some of them Shinji noticed were birds and reptiles, even a few bats.

"It must cost a fortune for many of the things here, regular or custom-made," Tama expressed.

"And that's what has me a bit edgy," Shinji added.

"Well, don't be, Shinji," Miko told him, pointing toward a skyscraper-sized building that had several bridges connecting it to other tall buildings that looked like they'd been built atop the smaller ones. "That's where we're going first. _Mugen and Clow Reed's_, the sage bank. Hardly any other place safe enough that you want to hoard away your possessions or things you don't want in your home, but don't want to throw out…except perhaps the academy."

They stepped inside the bank, and Shinji and Tama saw people having their financial business tended to by large, armored behemoths that looked like humanoids belonging to comic books and movies.

"Grandmother, uh…what are these things?" Shinji asked, disturbed by their presence.

"They're Evas, Shinji," she explained. "Evangelions. Artificial humanoids. Originally created as war machines, but they never panned out. They're a tricky series, but not the most stable of artificially-created beings. Best to be careful around them."

They approached a front desk where one Eva, a purple one with a long horn on its armored head, and Miko stepped forward.

"My grandson, Shinji Ikari, would like to make a withdrawal, ma'am," she informed the behemoth, getting her attention.

The Eva leaned over the desk and at the quartet, looking closely at the boy, and uttered, in a mildly-grim voice, "And would your grandson have his bank key?"

"Right here," Miko told her, holding up a small key made of silver.

"His key reeks of his mother, who had me stabilized long ago after spending a year as a potential bio-weapon. No doubt he inherited what you left her."

"Bitter resentfulness?"

"No. Bitter respect."

"There's something else, as well. Miss Katsuragi is also here on an errand from the academy's current headmaster, Professor Fuyutsuki."

Misato then came up and handed the Eva a letter.

"It's about something I'm not supposed to know about," she explained what she knew, "in a vault that one of the others Evas is supposed to know it's in."

"Very well, then," the Eva expressed. "I'll have Unit-36 escort you to your vaults."

-x-

Whilst Shinji continued to go over the list of supplies he needed for his first year, he looked out the cart he, his grandparents and Misato were in as a red and green Evangelion carried them down a long track that spanned for miles. He was seeing how science and sorcery were being used in this massive bank; each vault was housed within a pocket dimension, and those pocket dimensions were housed within pocket dimensions. This allowed the bank to remain where it had been built, and not take up much space.

STOMP! The Eva stopped walking and placed the cart down in front of a row of vaults.

"Unit Vault-Twenty-Thousand-Forty-Two ," the Eva spoke out.

They got out of the cart and approached the large, modern-day-looking vault door, and saw a small slot that had a key hole on it.

"Go ahead, Shinji," Miko encouraged her grandson to use the key.

He inserted the key into the slot, turned it over and watched the large, circular door open up, unleashing a small cloud of dust.

"Oh!" The quartet coughed, fanning away the dust, and looking into the vault. "Whoa…"

Within the vault was a vast cave, filled with large piles of coins. The room had to be the equivalent of a small mansion of sorts to hold this much of a bounty or wealth.

Shinji then felt Miko place a hand on his right shoulder.

"You didn't really think your mother would leave you with nothing, did you?" She asked him.

"Though, this must've been left to her by you," he said calmly.

"Yeah, I left this to her, but it's all yours now. It's actually bigger than the amount I entrusted to her."

"Maybe she didn't use it as much," went Tama, suggesting that Yui lived a simple life with Shinji when he was younger, and with the fortune's lack of use by her and Shinji, it just accumulated over the years. "She didn't possess the desire for living in luxury."

"Let's see, there's Golden Behemoths," Miko identified the coins, "Silver Tyrants and Bronze Discs. Ten Bronze Discs add up to a Silver Tyrant, and ten Silver Tyrants add up to a Golden Behemoth."

She then took out a small bag and helped Shinji scoop up as much as the bag could hold up, just enough that Shinji could carry it on his own.

"This should be enough to get what you need."

They then left the vault and headed toward another vault that they needed to go to.

"Unit Vault-Thirty-Seven-Hundred-Seven!" The Eva informed him.

"What's in this vault?" Shinji asked.

"I wasn't told, only that it was the business of the United Academy," Misato explained.

"Kindly take two steps back from the door," the Eva instructed them, and they obliged.

Then, the vault opened up, but, unlike Shinji's, it opened up like a sort of puzzle box, the sides sliding into the walls and floor, revealing its interior. Instead of a large chamber filled with treasure or some other form of valuables, all they saw was an empty space that was equivalent to that of a janitorial closet…with a small object laying on the floor. It was some sort of small case made of tin, like a mediocre time capsule.

Misato went inside and picked it up, and then placed it in a pocket inside her robes.

"It's best that nobody else knows about this, eh?" She asked them.

"I don't even know what that is," Tama told her. "And I don't care, really."

"We didn't see anything in this vault," added Miko. "I was just here helping my grandson buy his school supplies."

Shinji nodded his head in agreement with them; whatever this item was that Misato needed to pick up, it wasn't his business to know about it.

-x-

Shinji never thought that he would see so many strange things today that, just a while ago, were only believed in the realms of make-believe. Now, with a revelation on who his mother was, what his grandmother is, insight into the magical and technological worlds, and a bag full of coins that those versed in magical arts used, he had felt there was almost nothing else he could be told about until he went to the academy. In almost an hour upon leaving the sage bank, he went from having a bag full of coins to having several bags full of various items for his first year at the United Academy; he had gotten his measurements recorded for his work robes (both black and silver with opposite fastenings), a course of books for the year, such as _ Your Path to Standard Sorcery_, _How to Manipulate Technological Factors through Magical Means_, _Understanding Artificial Beasts and How to Tame Them_ and _Beginner's Guide to Transformations and Level/Ranks_ being among the books, a small cauldron that was collapsible so that he could have it handy when he needed it for later, along with various other items, except for…

"I still need this here," he told Miko, pointing to his list, toward a word he couldn't make out. "I don't know what this is."

"_Tali-Sword_?" Tama read on the list. "That's _Talisman Sword_, Shinji. It's the ancient and modern-day version of the magic wand."

"Oh. Where can we find one of these, then?" He asked.

"Masamune's," went Miko, pointing toward a small shop that resembled the small homes of the rural Japanese that lived in the countryside, with a faded sign that read _Masamune's Tali-Swords_. "There aren't any that are better than his. Why don't you two and Misato go on in. I just need to do one thing further down the street. I won't be long."

They all agreed and the men and Misato stepped into the shop while Miko left further down the street. Inside the shop, there were stacks of small, wooden cases, piled against the walls. The floor was dirty, giving the indication that whoever worked here always had their shoes on, going against an old tradition that Japanese walked barefoot indoors.

"Hello?" Shinji called out, and a scuffling of footsteps were his responding sound. "Oh."

A young man, probably another of those apprentices, with silver-gray hair and a thin face. He looked like a teen, though much older, just enough to be taller than Shinji himself was.

"Heh," the boy chuckled. "I was informed by the keeper here that I would be expecting you here one day, Shinji Ikari. Welcome to Masamune's."

He walked from out of a basement underneath the floor and toward one of the stacks of wooden cases.

"It seems like only yesterday that your mother was in here buying her first tali-sword," he expressed, and then noticed Shinji's hands, forgetting that he needed to check with a need-to-know detail before he did anything further. "Which hand is your commonly-used hand?"

"My right hand," Shinji told him, raising up his hand, showing the mark on its backside.

"Oh, dear," the boy said, taking a solemn look at the hand. "My teacher also informed me to give you his most sincerest apologies, for he might've sold one of his customers the Tali-Sword that gave you your scars."

Shinji looked at his hands and wondered how a Tali-Sword, which he had yet to see, could leave scars like these on his skin.

The boy then removed a wooden case from the stack he was near and opened it up, removing what looked like a small, curved dagger with an ornate handle, with a small ball shaped like a bear at the end of it. He handed it to Shinji, who held it curiously.

"Well, pretend that it's a wand and give it a wave, or that you're going to slash something," he told Shinji, who understood what he was suggesting.

Shinji waved the Tali-Sword once…and then a window in the far back of the shop shattered into pieces. This frightened him to where he calmly set the item onto a nearby table.

"Apparently, that one didn't like you very much," the boy realized. "A Tali-Sword made with cherry wood and polar bear teeth is clearly not the right one for you. No matter."

He found another case and removed a similar Tali-Sword; this one had a straight blade and a handle that had a similar ball that was shaped like a horse with a horn on its head at the end.

"Perhaps this one," he suggested, "made with rosewood and unicorn hair. Quite sensitive."

Shinji waved it…and caused a nearby worktable to collapse from the weight of the large materials on it, which promptly had him convinced that this one didn't like him, either.

"Or not," the boy realized. "The third time's the charm, as some would say."

When he moved to a different stack of cases, he pulled one out of the pile and then looked back at Shinji, wondering about one Tali-Sword that might be right for him.

"Wait right there," he then told the boy and ran into the back of the shop, returning with a case he just opened up and removed a Tali-Sword that was most unusual; it was like a hunting knife, except the blade was rather blunt, and the handle's tiny ball looked like a crane. "Try this one."

Shinji accepted the item…and felt like he had been submerged in a hot tub that smelled like vanilla and tropical flowers. His hair strands moved backwards a little in response to a small breeze that brushed against his face.

"Whoa," he sighed, feeling like nothing was impossible to him.

"Curious," they all turned to a new voice, seeing an elderly man that carried a cane as he walked into the store with a paper bag. "Undeniably curious."

"I'm sorry, sir," Shinji expressed, "but…what is curious?"

"I'm Masamune, young Ikari, and I remember every Tali-Sword I've ever sold since inheriting this shop from my father. And it just so happens…that the winged beast of passion, a phoenix from the thirteenth generation of a phoenix from the one-hundredth generation…whose wing feather resides in that Tali-Sword gave another feather from its wing. Just one other feather." The elder, Masamune, explained. "I find it most curious that you should be destined for this Tali-Sword, above all others…when its twin sibling…gave you your scars."

Shinji then realized what the apprentice meant when he said that Masamune offered his apologies at selling a Tali-Sword that might've harmed him when he was little. He never thought that a item like the one he was holding could be used to such harm to anyone without cutting through flesh.

"And who owned that Tali-Sword, sir?" Tama asked him.

"We dare not speak his name," he responded. "Tali-Swords choose those that would become their masters, for better or for worse. It's not always clear why this is so, but what I think is clear…is that we can all expect great things from Shinji Ikari in the future. After all…He-Who-Shan't-Be-Known did great acts of unparalleled prowess. Terrible, they were…but unparalleled."

After Shinji paid for his Tali-Sword, a tapping came on the window out front.

"Shinji," he turned to see his grandmother, holding up something he didn't expect to see her with. "Happy Birthday!"

In her left hand was a large cage that contained a large creature that looked like a chimera between a bird, cat and dragon, white and blue.

"What is that?" Tama asked.

"It's a Mystic Messenger," Misato answered. "Your grandmother got you a Mystic Messenger, Shinji. Those are some of the rarest creatures in the magical parts of the world."

"Wow," Shinji gasped, unable to believe his eyes.

-x-

It was nightfall when they had returned home from getting all of Shinji's school supplies, and Shinji was quietly feeding his new pet at the table.

"Are you alright, Shinji?" Miko asked him. "You've been quiet since we left from shopping."

"I… He…he killed my mother, didn't he?" He questioned, looking her, Misato and Tama. "The guy that gave me my marks on my hands."

Misato, who had been invited over for dinner, shuddered at the thought of Shinji asking such a question. It wasn't something anyone alive today that knew the past was comfortable answering.

"I just want the truth," he explained, "a little closure."

"You know, don't you, Misato?" Miko asked her. "What happened that night?"

Misato set down her chopsticks and inhaled a new breath.

"This is the important everyone needs to understand out there in the world," she told them. "Not all mages are good. Quite a few of them just go bad, and a few years ago, one went as bad as you can go. His name was…was…"

"Maybe if you wrote it down," Tama suggested.

"No, I can't spell it," she turned his offer down. "Alright. It was Gendo."

"Gendo?" Shinji repeated; he didn't find anybody with that name seemingly dangerous. "Go on."

"It was dark times, fourteen years ago," Misato continued. "He just appeared one day and started gathering followers, brought them down to his level of cruelty. Some were quite fearful of him while others just wanted the power he had…and were willing to do anything to get in his favor. Anyone that stood up to him…ended up breathing their last breath in their final hours. But while there were many that joined him, there were the few that stood up for those that wanted nothing to do with him or what he wanted to do to the world in general. Your mother was one of the people that caused him the most trouble, which left her marked for worse, so she took you into hiding…but he found her somehow…and nobody that caused him that much trouble was spared once he decided to remove them from existence. No one was spared. Not one person…except for you."

Shinji thought back to the nightmares he had, recalling the screaming of a woman and a hooded figure that showed up in the darkness. It was never a nightmare. It was a memory, repressed to spare him great pain from what had happened.

"He killed her," he spoke up, "and then he tried to kill me?"

"Yeah, Shinji," she told him. "Those aren't ordinary markings on your hands. My father said that marks like those can only come from being touched by a curse. And it's possible that it's a very dark curse that nobody knows about. Not even Gendo himself."

"So what happened to him? After he failed to kill me?"

"Well…some believed that he just died that night. Bull, if you want my opinion for that belief. I don't think he did die that night. I believe he's still out there in the world, lying in wait, too tired, too weak to left go of living. The only thing that could all agree on, though…was that there was something about you that crippled him that night he was last seen and heard of. That night gave your fame, and that's why everyone knows who you are: You were dubbed the Boy Who Lived Through Retribution, and Gendo was that retribution."

To be continued…

A/N: Here's part one of a new type of _Evangelion _story I don't know if I'll get back to work on, but I want people to read it over and review it. I got so many other stories in-progress that need to be worked on and barely any time to get to them. But I'll get them in due time. Peace out.


	2. To the United Academy

Creation began on 02-16-14

Creation ended on 02-21-14

Neon Genesis Evangelion

To the United Academy

A/N: Second chapter to _The Boy Who Lived Through Retribution_.

Shinji had quite the summer after learning about his hidden heritage. First and foremost, he was a wizard. Second, he learned that his mother, like his grandmother, was a witch. And last but not least, he found out that he was the only survivor of a cruel sorcerer named Gendo's hit list of targets that stood between him and his goals.

But it was also a summer of learning a bit more about his future, which at present was to spend a school year's term at the United Academy where those versed in magic and technology learned how to hone and put their abilities to practical use. He also spent his time with his Mystic Messenger, whom he named Miyuki, whenever he wasn't outside.

Knock-knock! A knocking came from outside his room.

"Shinji?" His grandmother called out from in the hallway. "May I come in?"

"Yes," he answered, and his door opened to reveal the elder woman. "Hey."

"Hey. So…what have you been up to?" She asked him, seeing him at his desk, his Mystic Messenger out of its cage and resting on said desk.

"Just reading up on what Miyuki can do…and how regular people outside the house will perceive her."

"Really?"

"No. I've also read up on the history of magic and technology, among other things. Can I ask you a hypothetical question?"

"Sure. I mean, it can't be more hypothetical than your previous question on those elixirs I use to treat my health."

"Heh-heh… Right."

"Come on, Shinji, I'm just joking."

"Well, I, uh… What do you think of me being a good wizard in the far future?"

"Honestly? I believe you'll do well when you get older. You've yet to be protegee, and that's not bad."

"It isn't?"

"No. You're not bound to be a prodigy wizard. But a protegee wizard because you're about to start your lessons for the first time."

"And…you never worried about messing up or failing at something?"

"Nobody's perfect, Shinji. There's no such thing as perfect. If everyone in the world were perfect, we wouldn't have flaws to separate us. Now, can I ask you a question? Hypothetically?"

"Yeah."

"Can your grandfather and I expect you to come back during the holidays of your school year there?"

"Totally. Oh, one other thing?"

"Eh?"

"How come first-year students at the academy are not allowed to bring flight-capable objects like rugs or broomsticks? I've never even played with the broom in the kitchen."

"Eh-heh-heh! You'd be biting off more than you could chew, Shinji. Too much of anything can be bad."

-x-

The Nagasaki Train Station seemed quiet for one of the most busiest parts of the region. There was very few people wandering around, and those that weren't wandering, waiting for their trains to arrive or depart stole glances at a young boy, pushing a trolley packed with a large trunk and birdcage, and his grandparents.

"What are you looking at, sir?" Tama mocked irritation at a man on their left. "I swear, people have no manners or respect these days."

"Shinji, did you make sure your ticket's in your pocket again?" Miko asked her grandson.

"Yes," he answered, "for the tenth time."

"Stick to it, Shinji."

"We're supposed to find a platform marked 'U.N.A.', but I'm not seeing it anywhere," went Tama, concerned that Shinji was going to miss his train because they couldn't find where they were supposed to go.

"They must've changed where it used to be," Miko suggested. "They gotta change that habit."

"…It's the same every year," Shinji heard a woman complaining about something, "needing to find the magical doorway."

"Huh? Doorway?" He questioned quietly, seeing the woman with brownish-black hair leading some people and children down the platform away from the one his family was on.

"Come on. Platform U.N.A.'s this way," the woman expressed.

"Let's follow them," he told his grandparents, and they quietly followed the group. "Huh?"

"What is it, Shinji?" Miko asked him.

"I thought I saw Toji for a second," he explained.

"Toji Suzuhara?"

"Yeah, him."

They all stopped at a spot in the station that appeared to be an end-of-line stop; there were no tracks going further and a large wall.

"Okay, Kodama, you're first," the woman said, and a tall girl, probably in her mid to late-teens, with brownish-black hair tied into a braided ponytail and small freckles on her cheeks pushed a trolley with a large trunk and a cage containing an owl up front…and disappeared into the wall!

"Whoa!" Shinji gasped, not being to believe that without seeing it first.

"Okay, who's next? Hikari? Motoko?" The woman asked a pair of girls that seemed to be around Shinji's age, just like the previous girl, possessing the same hair color and freckles, but one of them hair their hair in a simple ponytail while the other wore hers in pigtails.

"She's not Motoko, I am," went the girl with the pigtails.

"Honestly, lady, you call yourself our mother?" The girl with the ponytail questioned.

"Oh, sorry, Hikari," the woman, their mother, apologized to them.

"Heh-heh-heh!" The pigtailed girl snickered, pushing her trolley forward. "I'm just joking now. I really am Hikari."

She then disappeared into the wall, followed by the ponytail girl.

_It's now or never,_ thought Shinji, who decided to step up. "Excuse me, ma'am?"

"Yes?" She responded.

"I… How do I… Well, uh…" He stuttered, trying to ask without sounding problematic.

"How to get onto the platform, you mean?" She questioned.

"Yes," he finally answered.

"Oh, not to worry. It's my twins' first time to the United Academy, as well. All you gotta do…is step up to the wall that has 'U.N.A.' painted on it. Best to do it in a run when you're nervous."

"Thank you," he praised her.

"Good luck, Shinji," Tama encouraged him.

Shinji looked up at the wall, inhaled a breath, and pushed his trolley in a panic run toward the wall. He thought he was going to end up hurting himself…but he kept on running. The wall seemed to take forever for him to make contact with, but then…it was no longer there. In place of the wall was…a much smaller train station, with a large, black and silver train being loaded with trunks and cages, _Unity Express _written in gold letters on its front and sides.

RING! He heard the train bell rang.

He took out his ticket and advanced toward the passenger cars.

-x-

Saying good-bye was hard, but it was only until the summer came back at the start of June, and he would definitely be around during the holidays, and Shinji didn't expect to find that a train ride like this would be relaxing. It was mainly due to the tranquil scenery that was a countryside-like environment outside around the tracks the _Unity Express _ran on. He had an entire compartment to himself, so he had his privacy to daydream and think about what to expect from the school.

"Excuse me," he heard someone outside his compartment utter to him. "Is it alright if I sit in here? Everywhere else is full."

Shinji turned to face the guy that was asking him this…and gasped at who it was.

"Toji?" He questioned the tall boy in the black tracksuit that he hadn't seen in months. "Come on in."

He stepped inside and took a seat opposite of Shinji.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," Shinji told him.

"I didn't think I'd see you again, either," Toji responded. "Who'd think that we would both be on the same train heading to the same place?"

"Shinji?" They both turned to the door and saw a boy around their age with glasses and a video recorder in his hands. "Oh, my… It's great to see you again!"

"Kensuke? You, too?" Shinji questioned, inviting him inside. "You're on the way to the United Academy, as well?"

"Totally," Kensuke answered. "I intend to be a great Tech-Mage. Knowledge is power!"

"It feels like forever since we last saw each other," Toji told them.

"You two disappeared before the school year ended," Shinji uttered, wanting to know the reason to why they left him. "What happened with you two?"

"Our parents pulled us out of school two days after a pair of letters came in, saying that we've been accepted to the academy," Toji explained their absence, "and immediately wanted us to learn as much as possible before the term started, so we'd have an advantage over the other first-year students."

"We were instructed to focus on studying and less time on anything else, which included phone and video chats," Kensuke added. "Believe me, we wanted to call you and everything, but our folks were pressuring us to be better than everyone else. Like that will ever happen."

"I guess I can forgive you two. Who knew the three of us would all have magical abilities? I found out during the summer and spent as much time as possible learning what I could before I left home. Never knew there was a lot to science and sorcery, like how similar and dissimilar they are."

"That science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke stated in one of his three laws that any advanced technology could be indistinguishable from what we understand as magic," Kensuke uttered, "but I bet he never understood the depths of magic when it was started from scratch."

"Still, many films and comics take some of what he has explained and worked around them," added Toji, who then needed to ask Shinji something. "Say, Shinji, is it true your hands have some magical scarring on them? One's a sun and the other's a moon?"

"Oh, yeah," Shinji told him, and showed them his hands; nobody ever really saw the markings unless he wasn't wearing fingerless gloves or they were paying direct attention to his hands.

"Whoa," they gasped.

Grumble! They heard a rumbling sound.

"Sorry," Shinji apologized, "it's been two hours since I last ate anything."

Moments later, a middle-aged man with a trolley full of different types of food came by and asked, "Anything from off the trolly, gentlemen?"

"No thank you, sir," Kensuke answered for himself, holding up a small pack of sandwiches.

"Same here," added Toji, revealing that he had a small bag of potato chips.

Shinji examined the food on the trolley and recalled that he still had some of the coins from his vault.

"How much for half the lot?" He asked, reaching into his right pocket and pulling out a handful of gold and silver coins.

"WHOA!" Toji and Kensuke reacted to the sight of the magic currency Shinji used to buy a large handful of junk food.

"Hungry?" He asked them.

In no time, the three were eating these weird sweets that Shinji knew very little about; Toji and Kensuke were fortunate enough to explain to him what these candies were.

"Oh, those are _Glacia's Surprise Flavor Liquorice_. They mean every flavor you can use to surprise the eaters," Kensuke informed Shinji, who opened a pack of liquorice. "There's the regular flavors like black cherry or strawberry, but then there's also flavors like dirt, spinach, or even tree bark. My mother tried them once and swore she got one that tasted like crap."

Shinji had one in his mouth, but then decided that, after hearing that detail about Mrs. Aida's experience with the candy, he didn't like it, either, and set it aside to try something else. He picked up a pack that _Caramel Spider_ and got worried.

"Say, these aren't real spiders, right?" He asked Toji, who was feasting on a candy bar.

"Nah, it's just a spell that makes them move around, but they're actually harmless," he explained, "besides, it's really the biography cards you want. Each one contains a renowned Para-Mage or Tech-Mage. I've collected about one-hundred-twenty-seven of them so far."

Shinji opened the pack…and a large, caramel spider jumped out onto the window, moving like a regular spider would.

"Careful there!" Kensuke gasped, but the spider jumped out of the window. "Oh, that's just rotten luck right there. They can only jump once before they cease to do anything else, becoming no different from candy that doesn't move."

Shinji would take that into account the next time he opened a pack, and examined the card that the spider came with, revealing it to be an elderly man that wore brownish-gray robes.

"I got Kozo Fuyutsuki," he told them.

"Oh, he's one the greatest Tech-Mages to have ever live," Kensuke expressed. "I have ten copies of his card already."

Shinji looked at the card again, but the man was no longer present.

"He's gone," he revealed the card to them.

"They do that all the time," Toji explained. "You can't expect them to be around all the time."

Shinji then noticed a rather small snake atop Kensuke's right shoulder.

"Kensuke, you have a snake on your shoulder," he told him, a little worried.

Kensuke looked at the snake and just chuckled.

"Oh, she's alright," he told him, and fed the snake a piece of gum. "She's my Veggie Cobra, a plant-eating snake. Not very vicious, is she?"

"She looks vicious enough to me," Shinji expressed.

"My father gave a spell that he claimed could turn her blue. Care to see?"

"Sure."

Kensuke then took out his Tali-Sword, a small, straight blade-based design with a shark on the hilt. But before he could do anything, their compartment door opened and revealed the girl with the pigtails from earlier, Hikari, already dressed in her work robes.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "but have any of you seen a white cat? A girl named Geisha lost one."

"Nope. Sorry," Shinji responded.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see, shall we?" She requested of Kensuke.

"Okay. Moonlight's unending, nerve-aching hue," he started, waving his Tali-Sword over his snake, "go and turn my snake blue!"

The Veggie Cobra then changed from black and green to baby-blue…and fell asleep.

"Impressive," Hikari praised Kensuke. "Which house are you hoping to get into?"

"House?" Shinji questioned; he didn't get very far on the academy's history.

"Yeah, house. You don't know which one you're getting into?"

"Un-uh. I didn't know the academy had houses."

"Wait a minute… Oh, my gosh! You're Shinji Ikari, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Hikari Horaki," she introduced herself, "and your guests?"

"My friends," he corrected her. "Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida."

"Pleasure to meet you," she greeted them. "There are four houses within the United Academy, each with its own, unique background. Most of whom I've spoken with are hoping to get into either Suzaku or Seiryu, the phoenix and dragon, respectively. You three had best be changing into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving by the time it gets dark. Later."

She then left them alone, but then came back a moment later.

"Suzuhara-Kun, you have dirt on your forehead," she told Toji, pointing at his head. "Just to the left."

Toji then wiped his brow clean.

"Thank you," he praised her.

-x-

It got dark quickly by the time the train stopped, the sky carpeted with only the moon and stars. There had to have been hundreds of people walking out of the passenger cars, varying in age, wearing black or silver robes with opposite fastenings.

Shinji, Toji and Kensuke hopped off the train in their black robes; they'd been instructed to leave their things on the train until much later.

"Okay, first-years step forward!" Shinji heard a familiar voice up ahead. "Come on, don't be shy! First-years, upfront, please!"

The three went up to the front of the crowd and saw a woman in black and red robes, with purple hair.

"Hey, there, Shinji," Misato greeted him.

"Hello again, Misato," he responded.

"Whoa," Toji and Kensuke reacted to the sight of such a beauty in front of them.

"First-years, follow me to the junk!" She instructed them.

"The junk?" Toji questioned.

"She must mean a boat," Shinji clarified; he knew a little bit about primitive, sea-based transports to understand their names and appearances.

And Shinji was right, for the junk was a boat. A large one that traveled across a vast ocean. Its destination: An uncharted island that seemed to be a blend between the primitive and high-tech; some of the bottom looked original, but much of what was built seemed to glisten like shiny metal.

"That," went Misato, pointing toward the structure on the island, "is the United Academy."

As they got closer to get a better look, the structure resembled a massive, castle-like fortress comprised mainly of stone towers and steel pyramids and a large, metallic sphere in the center.

"Wow…" Several of the students reacted to the sight.

"I didn't expect it to be so massive," Shinji expressed, and the junk docked on the pier.

-x-

Walking up a large staircase of marble and jade, the mass of first-year students examined the stone and iron walls and handrails that led up to large, gold and silver, ornate double doors. At the top of the steps was a woman with faux-blond hair and white and blue robes.

"Welcome to the United Academy," the woman greeted them, "also known as Unity Academy. Now, before the starting ceremony commences, you must all be sorted into your houses and join your fellow classmates. They're based after the Four Mythological Beasts. Suzaku, Genbu, Byakko…and Seiryu."

The young teens were all quiet, wondering what was to be expected from these four houses.

"Now, while you're here," she continued, "your house…will similar to your family. Your achievements will earn your house points… Any breaking of rules or misbehavior…and your house will lose points. And at the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the victory cup."

Most of the first-years gave small nods of understanding what she was telling them, and then she left them alone for a while.

"So, it's true, then," went a girl's voice, and several eyes were turned to face a girl with long hair so red that it looked ablaze. "What kids were saying on the train. Shinji Ikari has come to the academy."

Shinji and his friends soon heard several whispers and murmurs from around them. He also took notice that the redhead was accompanied by the twins Hikari and Motoko Horaki.

"I'm Asuka," the redhead greeted him. "Asuka Langley Soryu."

"Soryu?" Toji questioned, a little disturbed. "As in Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, the Combat Witch?"

Some of the kids around them whispered on that, too. All Shinji could suspect was that this redhead had a past that some didn't want to know anything about.

He also noticed the way Asuka glared at Toji.

"You got a problem with my mother?" She asked him, sounding extremely judgmental. "I don't think I need to ask you about your mother. A thuggish expression and brownish-orange hair? You must be a Suzuhara, a rather embarrassing bunch."

Asuka then looked at Shinji, making no attempt to mask disgust.

"Well, Mr. Ikari, you'll soon see that some magical families are superior to others," she expressed. "You don't wanna go around making friends with the wrong sort that drag you down. I can help you there."

She held out her right hand, but Shinji didn't take it.

"I think I'll take my chances being friends with whoever I choose to, thank you very much," he told her; he wasn't that interested in the family history or status of any families, just trying to find new friends, and there was a possibility that this girl wouldn't be one.

"We're ready for you now," they heard the woman say to them, and Asuka walked away. "Follow me."

The doors opened up and revealed a massive, semicircle hall, occupied by hundreds of students in black and silver robes sitting at long tables under floating lanterns and glass bulbs that hovered beneath a ceiling that looked unfinished because it displayed the night sky.

"It's not real," went Hikari. "The ceiling, that is. It's been bewitched to resemble the sky outside. They even do it with holographic systems."

The first-years reached the shorter table in front of the four primary tables, occupied by several adults, with the middle being used by an elderly man Shinji recognized as Kozo Fuyutsuki, whom Misato had mentioned to him as the academy's current headmaster, the primary instructor tasked with the way the school was run.

"Now, before we begin the sorting ceremony, Professor Fuyutsuki would like to explain a few things to you for this year," the woman explained to them, and Fuyutsuki rose up from his seat.

"I have a few, start-of-term warnings to inform you about," he started. "Let the first-years note that the Bio-Mech Forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Sachiel, would like to remind all students for this year…that the sixth floor corridor of the southern side of the school is out of bounds…to anyone that doesn't wish to suffer a most painful fate."

"Now, when I call your name," the woman told them, now holding up a large, metal cone, "you will come forward. I shall place the Cone of Choice upon your head…and you'll be sorted into the house of your choice that only the cone will know. Kensuke Aida!"

Kensuke felt nervous and slowly walked over to the woman, trying not to look stupid or anything.

"First chosen is always the scariest," Toji expressed, and Kensuke had the cone placed on his head in front of everyone.

A obscured face appeared on the cone and seemed to be in deep thought.

"Oh, right, then," the people heard the cone speak. "Hmm…right for you. Okay. Suzaku!"

The table over a red glow had the students cheering at their newest member as they welcomed Kensuke to their house.

"Rika Takamoto!"

A girl with a cruel-looking face came forward and waited for the cone to be placed upon her.

"Seiryu!" The cone shouted, barely even toughing her head, and the girl went over toward the table that had a blue glow under it.

"I heard there hasn't been many a witch or wizard that went bad that wasn't in Seiryu," Toji told Shinji.

There were three other students called upon, a boy and two girls, who were sorted into the houses under Byakko and Genbu.

"Asuka Langley Soryu!"

Asuka went up, and the cone sorted her into Suzaku, much to Toji's chagrin; he wouldn't have minded the redhead being sorted in Seiryu, which would've probably suited her personality.

"Toji Suzuhara!" The woman called Toji, and he stepped forward, his choice already made.

"Huh?!" The cone gasped. "Another Suzuhara. Well, I'm sure we all know just what to do with you."

Toji got nervous hearing this.

"Suzaku!" It declared, and he sighed as he joined his welcoming house.

"Shinji Ikari!"

All eyes were now waiting for him to make himself known to know which house he'd be placed in.

_Why me?_ He wondered, stepping up to face the whole school.

The cone was placed upon his head, yet because Shinji hadn't really decided upon of the other three houses that seemed optional, the cone itself couldn't make the choice heard by the others.

"Wow, you're difficult," it uttered, reading the confined spaces of his mind upon the choices. "Truly difficult. Plenty of backbone to show what you're capable of. Not a bad mind to speak up for others…and a thirst to prove you belong. But where to put you?"

_Not Seiryu,_ he thought. _Not Seiryu._

"Not Seiryu?" The cone asked him, keeping the conversation between the two of them. "Are you sure about that? You can be greater than you think. It's all here, in your head…and Seiryu can help you on your way to that goal."

_Un-uh! Please, not that house! _Shinji begged. _Any house except that house! Anything but Seiryu!_

"Well, if you're so sure of yourself," the cone accepted his plea of not being in the dragon's house, "it'd better be…Suzaku!"

Shinji was okay with that choice, and went over to familiar faces and one unfriendly face.

After everyone else was sorted, Fuyutsuki stood up again.

"Let the feast…begin," he said, and then, just like that, with a little aid from the bulbs floating around the tables, food appeared in digitization, being built from tiny blocks and chips until fully formed, looking edible and everything.

Shinji, Toji and Kensuke all looked at each other and couldn't see a reason not to eat what was in front of them. And it was all good. Fried chicken, spaghetti, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, corn, steak, etc. All the students were enjoying themselves to the wonderful.

-x-

With overstuffed stomachs and tired brains, the students were led out of the Grand Duality Hall and into the halls. Each of the four houses were led by who the students learned were the prefects, students handpicked by the house teachers or the headmaster of the school themselves. And it turned out that Suzaku's current female prefect was Kodama, Hikari and Mototo's elder sister.

"Okay, first-years," Kodama told the students within her house, stopping in front of a series of multiple staircases, "these are the most direct paths to both the dormitories and the classrooms. Be mindful of most of the staircases, however. They have a habit of rotating where they're supposed to lead to."

They saw several staircases proving Kodama right; they changed from right to left or left to right, up or down, down or up.

"All this time, I thought she was lying," went Motoko, and the students resumed the trek to where they were supposed to be residing in for the school year.

Adorning the walls of the staircases were several holographic figures that rivaled several of the painting that seemed obsolete because only a handful of them were actually moving. The students were awed and questioning who each person in the holograms and moving paintings were…and were surprised to see them actually capable of interaction.

"Welcome to Unity Academy," a holographic woman in a red dress greeted them.

They reached the end of a hallway they were walking in and stopped in front of a door that appeared to be guarded by a hologram of knight in red armor. The knight looked at them and unsheathed his sword.

"To gain entry, one must know the correct password," he told them, and Kodama stepped forward.

"There is no joy in destruction as there is in rebirth," she told the knight.

"That…is the correct password," he responded, and sheathed his sword before disappearing, allowing the door to open up in front of the students.

"This way, please," Kodama instructed them, leading the way inside a large room with several large couches and armchairs surrounding a small fire. "Gather around."

They all gathered around the fire and sat down or leaned over the couches.

"This is the Suzaku Tower House, where we'll be living for the whole year, " she explained to them. "The men's dormitories are located upstairs and downstairs in the western tower. Ladies, the same in the eastern tower. You'll find that all your belongings have already been brought up."

-x-

The night was quiet with most of the Suzaku Tower House asleep. But the silence hadn't allowed Shinji himself to sleep just yet. He had sent a text to his grandmother telling her that he'd been sorted into the house associated with the phoenix, and to inform her and his grandfather that it would be a while before he or any other students would be permitted to use their cellphones later. And he received a text back from her.

"Congratulations, Shinji," her text said. "We miss you at home. Have a great time, and we'll see you over the holidays. We love you."

"I love you, too," he text back, and put his phone up and continued to look out the window he sat by with Miyuki as his company.

The female Mystic Messenger nuzzled his left index finger as he stroked her neck.

He looked up at clock in the room and saw the hands on the twelve, signifying that it was midnight, a new day has arrived, and then he returned his gaze to the ocean that glistened under the moonlight.

"Let the new school day begin," he said to Miyuki.

To be continued…

A/N: Here's the second chapter. To those that think I'd have Asuka being similar to Draco Malfoy, I was actually considering it, but then I had to consider that she could be like Hermione Granger, so she's like a mix of the two: She wants to prove she's superior to those around her and that those around her should treat her like a princess or goddess, even. But we'll get to the day where she, like how Hermione did, open up to those that weren't trying to be heard much and change her ways. I'm considering having Rei Ayanami be portrayed as one of the teachers at the academy, with some similarities to Severus Snape, but not a lot. Anyhow, read and review, please.


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